The best thing about Sloop’s enchanted evening was that her teammates and coaches were more enthused about her assault on the scoreboard than she was. West senior Kari Schenk gave the scoop on Sloop.

“Sloop is always there for us, but tonight, I mean, she was really there,” said Schenk. “She had her head in the game and had that little bit extra. We saw how she was playing and we all said, ‘You go ahead, Jenny. Score, if that’s what you wanna do.’ We were happy for her, because she’s always about team. She never worries about herself.”

Sloop is a junior reserve whose scoresheets this season have been dotted with two-point games (six times) and even an occasional zero (three times). She had scored in double figures exactly once in her previous 37 varsity outings.

Wednesday night,however, Jenny was a genie. She was magic and could neither be stopped nor contained by the visiting Rams. She scored a sweet 16 points and was letter perfect doing it — 7-for-7 from the floor, 2-for-2 from the line. She also had seven rebounds and a fistful of assists before calling it a career night in the third quarter with the flying Falcons (12-4, 7-2) on the business end of a 56-18 blowout.

Sloop, 5-7, doesn’t look big enough to play inside. And with blurs like Schenk and Kristen McNeely zipping around like Pokemon creatures, she doesn’t look fast enough to play outside. But she proves that height and quickness aren’t everything. There’s still room in the West gym for a kid whose strengths are her head and her heart.

“Sloop’s not the perfect size, she’s not tall or big,” said the Falcons’ gifted 5-10 forward Sara Pieper. “But she’s dependable and works as hard as anyone on the team.”

You had to appreciate the way Sloop worked last night. Every time a Falcon star missed, she was in the right spot at the right time to pick them up with another putback.

“Everyone on our team played well,” said West coach Angie Waddell, but Jenny played great defense and rebounded great. She had a complete game. She played intelligently and was always in position.”

Waddell hadn’t liked her team’s rebounding of late and was concerned that a physical Harding team would give the Falcons fits on the glass. She grew even more concerned when Kate Goodman, the Falcons’ most aggressive inside player, got two quick fouls and headed to the bench.

But that just meant that it was time for Sloop to hoop.

Despite the lopsided final, it was a game for a spell. West led only 13-9 after six minutes. But a couple of McNeely steals and some strong rebounding by Shameeka Wansley allowed West to score the last nine points of the first quarter for a 22-9 lead.

Then West annihilated Harding (1-11, 1-8) in the second quarter, forcing 11 turnovers and outscoring Jennifer McVickers’ Rams 20-2 for a 42-11 halftime lead.

Sloop scored the first two buckets of the quarter, finishing off slick passes from Schenk and Pieper. Then she was responsible for the last three field goals of the period— twice converting offensive rebounds, then stealing the ball in West’s press and passing to Pieper for a layup.

“I was just concentrating on rebounding like we do in drills,” said Sloop. “Mostly, my teammates gave me some great passes. They shock me sometimes with the passes they can make.”

So maybe it was only fitting that it was Sloop’s turn to shock her teammates with a little scoring spree.

“The nice thing about it,” said Schenk, “is that tomorrow she’ll act like it didn’t happen. She’ll still be laid-back Jenny.”

“Jenny’s got no attitude, no ego,” said Pieper. “She’s just a great teammate. Tonight, she was our leader, and that was pretty cool.”

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NOTES: Amber Springs led Harding with 17 points. ... McNeely gave West lots of early energy with five first-quarter steals. ... West reserves played the last nine minutes and all 12 Falcons scored, including Danielle Scearce, returning from a back injury. ... Schenk scored 11, all in the first half. Goodman scored all seven of her points in the third quarter. ... Schenk and Pieper combined for eight assists in that second-quarter run. ... Wansley ripped down nine rebounds. ... West scored 29 points in the last 10 minutes of the first half, a 93-point pace ... Waddell said the Falcons were eager to get in a game that was postponed from Tuesday. “There were distractions with the snow,” she said, “but we really wanted to play.” ... Next up for West is a huge Friday matchup with East Rowan that will go far toward deciding the SPC title.

HARDING (34) — Murray, Springs 17, McGill, Mbanzue 5, Massey, Sellers 6, Ratcliffe, Alexander, Johnson, Hooper 6, Buckley.

WESTROWAN (67) — Schenk 11, Pieper 9, Goodman 7, McNeely 7, Wansley 4, Sloop 16, Moore 4, Scearce 2, Jones 2, Shaver 2, Honeycutt 1, Rabon 2.

Harding 9 2 9 14 — 34